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As I sat in my boat recently, fishing for the first time in five years, I felt a peace and sense of ownership I didn’t know I had within me. Not just ownership of the boat, but ownership of my own time and emotions, and of my decisions. The boat and I have a long […]

I’ve lived in this house for 35 years this year. I used to clean the attic out religiously every couple of years, but it has been many years since I last did that. It is way overdue. The attic, which is directly above the kitchen, was built to be the sleeping loft in the original […]

My son-in-law Daryl and I were in my late husband’s woodworking shop on a recent evening doing a little project. Well, Daryl was doing the project — I was supervising and my stepdaughter was getting dinner. Daryl was making a brace to stabilize my dogs’ portable exercise pen I acquired to use at camp […]

I want to talk to you about courage. Not the kind where you rescue a stranger from a burning building, when fear and sheer adrenaline drive you. And not the kind where your convictions overrule your better judgment and make you stand up to a bully. Those kinds of courage are bursts from a state […]

I’m thinking I need to stay home more often or I could be in danger of losing control over my own property. I’ve been on the road a lot these past few months for various dog-related reasons — flyball tournaments (dog relay racing), conformation shows (think scaled down Westminster), and a couple of field events […]

I opened up camp over the weekend. Camp, for me, is a camper that sits on a rented lot year-round in a campground in the northern tip of Maine — in God’s country. I always approach opening weekend with true excitement for the coming season, but also with trepidation. One never knows what condition […]

Our neighborhood is blessed with road construction at the moment. It’s not actually the road that’s being constructed — it’s a sidewalk that stretches from Hermon Village to Hermon High School. While waiting not so patiently in a line of cars to get into my driveway so I can let out my dogs at lunchtime […]

The mind is an amazing thing. It’s not an actual organ like the brain is, but it can control how so many organs function. It defines our humanity, and how we react to life. It is the keeper of all of our emotions and life experiences. And yet, it has a sense of humor. […]

The thing about widowhood is that from the moment it happened to me, I felt like I had fallen on this conveyer belt that just carried me through life as unwilling cargo from day to day. No control over my destiny. No control over what had just happened to me. No control over a […]

I miss fishing. That realization hit me like a two by four recently, and has turned my thoughts to getting the boat ready to go to camp this year. My late husband Jim and I used to spend hours in our boat, fishing and talking and playing cards. We made several major life decisions, confronted […]

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Julie Harris

As a longtime employee of Bangor Daily News, I have served many roles over the years, but I now have a dream job as Community Editor. I live in Hermon with my four Brittany dogs: Sassy, Bullet, Thistle and Quincy, who keep me busy in various dog sports. I was widowed at age 51 when my husband, Jim, died of pancreatic cancer.